Wallpaper of the week, 25 April 2010

WALLPAPER of the week returns with an image of Carlisle Cathedral, which I hope you enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Maria!

THE CURRENT EDITION of The Westmorland Gazette, published Thursday, April 15, 2010, lists this coming Monday, April 18, as the twenty - third birthday of former Wimbledon tennis champion, Maria Sharapova, pictured left. Here's hoping Maria has an enjoyable day and best of luck for the 2010 tennis season!

Follow Maria online at her official website: http://www.mariasharapova.com and keep up to date with The Westmorland Gazette online at http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk

As mentioned above, hopefully Miss Sharapova will appear during the tennis season as part of the 2010 summer of sport, which will be covered here on Reporting From The Fox Tower. I intend to share with you my thoughts and reactions to the close of the domestic football season, the build-up and the results of the South Africa football World Cup and other events taking place during 2010, not just the summer. Better get revising the sporting calendar!

Apologies for the absence of Wallpaper of the Week recently, but it will return very soon. Until then, take care and be good!

Short Wave DX: April 2010

HERE is a list of what I heard on the Short Wave radio band, on the evening of Thursday 8 April 2010. All times in GMT / UTC, all frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Enjoy!

• 1849 UTC, 7520 kHz : Radio Tirana, Albania. English to Europe and America. Website.
• 1904 UTC, 7550 kHz : All India Radio, General Overseas Service. English to Europe and Africa. Website.
• 1925 UTC, 7570 kHz : Radio Thailand. News, Business news. English to Europe via Udon Thani, Thailand. Website.
• 20:00 UTC, 9490 kHz : Family Radio. "Send an email to international@familyradio.com to receive our card", Off air.
• 2018 UTC, 9645 kHz : Vatican Radio. "Visit us [online]".
• 2033 UTC, 11610 kHz : Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Hilversum, Holland. English to West Africa via Kigali, Rwanda. "Visit our website". 'Earth Beat' programme, 'Reloaded' programme. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, may I bring back some memories of the much missed 'Long Wave Giant' Atlantic 252 - How many of you had, or still have, a sticker from them, as featured below?

FM DX Logs, Sunday 28 March 2010

Sunday 28 March 2010 was the day Carlisle United Football Club contested the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final, against Southampton FC, at Wembley Stadium. I travelled to the game on a bus and spent the day listening to my pocket FM radio in the early morning and evening, the broadcasts I heard are as follows (all times in British Summer Time) :

• 0635 BST : STRAY FM, Harrogate (97.2 MHz). Host: Paul Hartley, music from Black Eyed Peas 'Meet Me Half Way' and Billy Joel 'Uptown Girl'. Strayfm.com
• 0700 BST : BBC RADIO HUMBERSIDE, Hull (95.9 MHz). Host: Andy links to the news at 0700. bbc.co.uk for Humberside
• 0720 BST : BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD (104.1 MHz). 'Traffic and travel for South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire'. Sports news with Sarah Major. bbc.co.uk for Sheffield
• 0825 BST : HEART. Music from Gabrielle, ID, Take That. heart.co.uk
• 0830 BST : BBC RADIO LEICESTER (104.9 MHz). Host: Steven Butt, ID, news: Murder charge. bbc.co.uk for Leicester

Evening :

• 1950 BST : BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD (88.6 / 94.7 / 104.1 MHz). 'Eastern Air' Community broadcast.
• 1955 BST : BBC RADIO NOTTINGHAM (95.5 / 103.8 MHz). Community broadcast, text 07786 201038. bbc.co.uk for Nottingham
• 1958 - 20:00 BST : TRENT FM (96.2 / 96.5 MHz). Ad for John Rose Jewellers, music: Ke$ha 'Tik Tok'. trentfm.co.uk

I hope you find the above of interest, if you would like to interact, please use the comment facility below. Finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Easter!